St. Paul Calendar

Color: Green

Old Testament: Ezekiel 33:7–9
Psalm: Psalm 32:1–7; antiphon: v. 1
Epistle: Romans 13:1–10
Gospel: Matthew 18:1–20
Introit: Psalm 92:1–4; antiphon: v. 5
Gradual: Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.
Verse: Matthew 5:3

Living as Humble Little Children of the Father
 
True greatness is not self-sufficient strength, but humility like that of a little child. The greatness of childlike faith receives all good things as gracious gifts from our Father in heaven. Apart from such faith, “you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” but whoever is humbled like a little child will be “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3–4). Though in our sin we deserve to be “drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6), we have instead been drowned (“buried”) with Christ in Baptism and then raised to the new, humble life of a child of God. The Lord sends His watchman to warn us with a word from His mouth, in order that we may not die in our iniquity but be turned from our pride and selfishness to live (Ezek. 33:7–9). Thus, we live in humility and faith before God as well as in love for our neighbor, which “is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). In the reverent fear of God, we do no harm to our neighbor, but we “pay to all what is owed to them” (Rom. 13:7) and we “owe no one anything, except to love each other” (Rom. 13:8). 

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green

Old Testament: Genesis 50:15–21
Psalm: Psalm 103:1–12; antiphon: v. 13
Epistle: Romans 14:1–12
Gospel: Matthew 18:21–35
Introit: Psalm 143:1–2; antiphon: v. 9
Gradual: Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.
Verse: Matthew 6:14

Forgiving as the Lord Forgives Us
 
In settling His accounts with us, our Lord acts not with anger, but with compassion. He does not imprison us as we deserve, but He forgives all our debts and releases us (Matt. 18:23–27). Therefore, our Lord bids each of us to have “mercy on your fellow servant” and “forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:33, 35). By the Lord’s forgiveness of our sins, we are free to forgive those who sin against us, because He has been handed over to the jailers in our stead and He has paid our entire debt with His lifeblood. Whether we live or die, we “are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8). Since we all will “stand before the judgment seat of God,” we are not to despise our brother (Rom. 14:10), but gladly forgive him. By the grace of God, our brother also “will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Rom. 14:4). Though we daily sin against each other, the Lord intends “to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Gen. 50:20). Jesus speaks kindly by His Gospel and promises: “I will provide for you and your little ones” (Gen. 50:21). 

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red

Old Testament: Numbers 21:4–9
Psalm: Psalm 40:1–11; antiphon: v. 13
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18–25
Gospel: John 12:20–33
Introit: Psalm 98:1, 4, 6; antiphon: v. 2
Gradual: Isaiah 49:22a; John 3:14b–15
Verse: Galatians 6:14

Holy Cross Day
 
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21). Then look to His holy cross. For just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so Jesus, when He is “lifted up from the earth, will draw all people” to Himself (John 12:32). “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” to save us (Phil. 2:8). “Everyone who is bitten” by the ancient serpent’s venom of sin, “when he sees” Christ “shall live” (Num. 21:8). The true holy cross is lost to history, and we cannot return to Calvary to find our salvation. So, Christ brings the New Testament in His blood to us. “We preach Christ crucified …. the power of God and the wisdom of God,” though foolishness to the unbelieving world (1 Cor. 1:23–24). It pleases God, “through the folly” of the cross we preach, “to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). We find the fruit and benefit of this holy cross poured out in Holy Baptism, spoken in the preaching of Holy Absolution, and delivered in the body and blood given and shed there for us. Thus are we strengthened to take up our crosses, sanctified by His (John 12:25–26).

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green

Old Testament: Isaiah 55:6–9
Psalm: Psalm 27:1–9; antiphon: v. 4a
Epistle: Philippians 1:12–14, 19–30
Gospel: Matthew 20:1–16
Introit: Psalm 116:12–13, 15–16; antiphon: v. 17
Gradual: Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.
Verse: Ephesians 2:8

Disciples Live in Their Vocations by Grace through Faith in Christ
 
Those who are sent as “laborers for his vineyard” (Matt. 20:1) depict the wide diversity of vocations to which the disciples of Christ Jesus are called. Whatever our particular stations in life may be, we are called to live and serve by faith in His promises. Our labors do not merit anything before Him, for He is already generous to one and all without partiality. In mercy, He has chosen to bear “the burden of the day and the scorching heat” on our behalf, to make us equal to Himself and to give us what belongs to Him, that is, the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 20:12–15). This way of the Lord is foolishness to the world and foreign to our thoughts, but He draws near, so that “he may be found” (Is. 55:6), “have compassion” and “abundantly pardon” (Is. 55:7). So it is that we are found in Christ Jesus, and He is honored in our bodies, “whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20), by “fruitful labor” (Phil. 1:22) or by suffering. It is by faith in His forgiveness that our works are “worthy of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red

Old Testament: Ezekiel 2:8—3:11
Psalm: Psalm 119:33–40; antiphon: v. 35
Epistle: Ephesians 4:7–16
Gospel: Matthew 9:9–13
Introit: Psalm 92:1–5; antiphon: Matthew 9:13b, c
Gradual: Psalm 119:105, 103; 45:1a, c
Verse: Matthew 28:19a, 20b

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
 
Our ascended Lord gives “gifts” to His Church. In particular, He gave apostles and evangelists like St. Matthew, prophets like Ezekiel, and still gives pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:8, 11). All are “for the common good … empowered by one and the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:7, 11). They speak Christ’s “truth in love” to wind- and wave-tossed children so that the saints may be equipped, served and built up as the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12–15). Christ is not only the head of this body, He is her Good Physician (Matt. 9:9–13). He has come not for the well but for the sick, not for “the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13) — even notorious tax collectors like Matthew. Christ’s team of spiritual physicians must serve faithfully. Their instrument is “thus says the Lord God,” to be spoken “whether they hear or refuse to hear” (Ezek. 3:11). To those stubborn, rebellious patients who believe they need no physician, the word “of lamentation and mourning and woe” must be fearlessly spoken: God’s Law calls to repentance (Ezek. 2:10). To those who recognize their trouble and sickness, the salve of the Gospel is to be applied. So Christ works to save us, as Matthew’s Gospel records.

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green

Old Testament: Ezekiel 18:1–4, 25–32
Psalm: Psalm 25:1–10; antiphon: v. 4
Epistle: Philippians 2:1–4, 14–18
Epistle: Philippians 2:1–18
Gospel: Matthew 21:23–27
Gospel: Matthew 21:23–32
Introit: Psalm 147:1–5; antiphon: v. 6
Gradual: Psalm 91:11; 103:1
Verse: Matthew 28:18b

The Cross of Christ Opens to Us the Way of Repentance to Life with God
 
The way of the Lord is righteous and just: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). However, because the Lord has “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (Ezek. 18:32), He calls sinners to repentance and faith in His gracious forgiveness of sins. The man who is thus turned away from his wickedness, who henceforth lives by the grace of God, “shall surely live; he shall not die” (Ezek. 18:28). This way of repentance has been opened for us by the cross of Christ. In the righteousness of faith and love, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8), and He was vindicated in His resurrection from the dead. Indeed, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). He has given us this name in our Baptism into Christ, in whom we now “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). He uses the authority that He has received from His Father (Matt. 21:23–27) to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, by which even “the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God” (Matt. 21:31–32).

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White

Old Testament: Daniel 10:10–14; 12:1–3
Psalm: Psalm 91; antiphon: v. 11
Epistle: Revelation 12:7–12
Gospel: Matthew 18:1–11
Gospel: Luke 10:17–20
Introit: Psalm 103:20–22; antiphon: v. 1
Gradual: Psalm 91:11; 103:1
Verse: Revelation 12:11

Our Father in Heaven Protects His Children by Giving His Holy Angels Charge Over Them
 
We live in “a time of trouble” (Dan. 12:1), in the midst of great tribulation. Satan and his wicked angels have been thrown out of heaven and have come down to earth “in great wrath,” with woeful “temptations to sin” and with constant accusations (Rev. 12:8–12; Matt. 18:7). Even so, we are encouraged by the presence and protection of St. Michael and the holy angels, whom God sends to help us in the strife (Dan. 10:11–13). By “the authority of his Christ,” His holy angels guard and keep us in body and soul. These heavenly servants of God preserve His human messengers on earth, the ministers of “the blood of the Lamb,” against all the power of the enemy, for by “the word of their testimony,” the Church is saved and the devil is defeated (Rev. 12:10–11; Luke 10:18–19). By their preaching and Baptism of repentance, the old Adam and the old evil foe are “drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). As God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, so are His people delivered and raised from the dust of the earth through the forgiveness of their sins (Dan. 12:1–3).

Lectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship